


Bad String of Luck

by Stories_By_Bagels



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles X
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 21:18:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5800483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stories_By_Bagels/pseuds/Stories_By_Bagels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cross assembles a team of friends but not everything goes right</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i cant tell if people are ooc or not... if they are apologies  
> also apologies if there are grammar and spelling mistakes and stuff the majority of the time i wrote this it was late at night so shit slips between the cracks
> 
> ANYWAY yeah hope you enjoy!

Yelv tapped his foot against the side of building to the rhythm of a song he hadn’t heard in quite some time. Cross had requested him to meet her around Armory Alley mentioning something about a difficult mission out in Oblivia. She had sent that message almost half an hour ago and had still not showed up or even given him the decency to tell him what was going on. He could have been using the spare time prepping himself but he didn’t want to leave now that he was here.

He looked down the alley and rubbed the left side of his face. His last mission with the Reclaimers had been a bit of a mess. They had found the shrapnel they were looking for but one of the Skells they had brought along had a breakdown and they didn’t have the resources to get a mechanic out to them. In the end they were forced to abandon the Skell and the scrap and leave it up to another team in the future.

“Hey! Yelv! Sorry for keeping you waiting man!”

Yelv looked over to his right and saw Cross jogging up to him with two men in tow.

“What the hell Cross? I didn’t sign up for a damn sausage fest!”

One of the men, a tall and muscular blond with a scar down the right side of his face had a very stern expression almost judging Yelv as he studied him. The other man was about the same height but better built and was darker skinned. He had a friendly grin on his face as he approached Yelv with an outstretched hand.

“Nice to meet’cha, names Doug.”

Yelv took the man’s hand but didn’t put any effort into the shake, quickly releasing the grip and walking up to the other blond.

“And how ‘bout you? Got a name?”

The man snickered, crossing his arms over his chest and looked Yelv straight in the eyes.

“Names Frye but people call me ‘The Killer Ostrich’ ‘cause of my propensity to take on the jobs that most schmucks won’t even bother with.”

Frye extended one hand and kept the other crossed over his chest. Yelv looked down at it before taking it and squeezing it. His squeeze was answered with an equally rough force.

“Boys, are you done? I don’t have time for this pissing contest. We’re already behind schedule and if we’re going to get our marks we gotta be out of the city by no later than sundown and we still need to get all of our equipment.”

“Well Ostrich? You heard the little lady.”

“I insist, you first.”

Cross looked over at Doug. “Could you help them get this differences settled? I need to go grab some stuff from L.”

“You go. I’ll get these two in their place.”

“Thanks Doug….”

Cross walked off in the direction of L’s small shop. Doug sucked in a deep breath and puffed out his chest, trying to make himself look as big as possible.

“Ok guys, I can tell that this chemistry isn’t going to work but Cross needs us at 100% cooperation on these missions and you two butting heads isn’t making this ANY easier.”

Yelv and Frye were still engaged in the hand shake. Yelv looked over at Doug without giving Frye an inch. “Why don’t you butt out and let us men settle it ourselves.”

Doug let out the air. “Excuse me? I’m not some 15 year old!”

Now Frye turned to Doug, “Yeah well that ‘yes man’ personality isn’t doing you any favors in my book.”

“Mine either.”

Doug let out an exasperated sigh. _Too bad I don’t have any Mediators handy right now… Although who knows if even THEY could solve this weird competition going on right now…_

Doug pushed his shoulders back and tried once again to make himself bigger than he was.

“Why are you two even acting like this? You haven’t gotten to know each other past your names…”

Yelv look at Doug before looking over to Frye, “This guy’s cockiness bothers me.”

Frye answered the taunt with a slightly stronger grip on Yelv’s hand. The other blond also began to squeeze harder.

“Guys seriously, cut the crap or both of you are being left behind in favor of more competent team members.”

Cross had come back from the kiosk and was holding 2 small bags. She looked to Doug first who had a sheepish look on his face. She shook her head and as she walked past him shoving the bags into his hands.

She placed one hand on Frye’s chest and one on Yelv’s and gave them a very solid shove. It was enough to finally get them to separate. They both opened and closed the hands that been held and shot a dirty look to the other.

“Now that you two aren’t attached at the hand anymore let’s get a move on. We’ve lost too much time and because of you two we may not make it to our first check point on time.”

“Pard if you’re so worried about this checkpoint business then why not go wrangle up some Skells?”

“Because all of the Skells I own are on lone to those who need them more than we do right now. Now come on, let’s get going. I’ll give you all the gear when we get to where we need to be.”

She walked past Doug who handed her the bags and filed in next to her with Frye and Yelv taking up a pace equal to the other behind the two of them in a cold silence.

 

Somehow the four of them had managed to make it to the Oblivia Ingress BC right around 1 am. There was a camp right near the looming entrance into Oblivia. A few BLADEs were standing around a table underneath a small canvas overhang.

They all perked up when they saw the arriving party.

“Are you the ones bringing us the requested materials?”

Cross nodded and held out the small bags that she had been carrying. One of the BLADEs came over and took them, taking a peek inside to verify and then nodded.

“Nice work. We really appreciate it. You guys look exhausted, go crash in our tent for a couple of hours. My team can keep watch even though this area isn’t really known for hostile indigens.”

Cross nodded and looked to her team who had been practically silent the whole journey. “Alright guys, you deserve that offer. Everyone go get a couple hours shut eye, I’m going to go and scout a little and then come back.”

Yelv furrowed his brows, “You sure about that? You don’t want one of us to come along in case you get in a pinch?”

Cross shook her head, “It’s just recon Yelv. The less of us that have the potential to be spotted the better it will go. Besides, I have my comm device if I really do need your help.”

Yelv clapped Cross on the shoulder, “Don’t do anything hasty pard.”

Frye looked at Yelv with an incredulous look. “Dude Cross is like 25, she can handle herself JUST fine.”

Yelv stared back at with a hostile look. “I’m just trying to look out for my teammate, I’m NOT looking for your opinion.”

“What was tattoo-eyeball!?”

“You head me scar-face!”

The two quickly closed the gap between them and got into the others face. Doug grabbed each man’s collar and pulled them away from the other.

“Oi! Haven’t you both had enough?!”

All the men exchanged dirty looks and Cross couldn’t do anything other than let out a sigh and shake her head.

“Look, I expect to be back at 4. I’m going around to the other side of gorge to take a look at some of the Ganglion camps on that side. BLADE has collected enough information about the fortresses on this side but the smaller camps could contain some key stuff. If I’m not back and I haven’t sent word as to why track me down. Everyone understand? Now try not to kill each other while I’m not here. Doug, you’re in charge.”

Frye and Yelv both looked at Doug and then over at Cross.

“What the hell pard!? Why’d you put him in charge?”

“Because Doug is a neutral party and when you two undoubtly start fighting again he’ll have temporary power to keep you two in line.”

The three men nodded and with those final words Cross saluted at those in the vicinity before entering Oblivia. The three entered the small tent which had cots lining the east and west walls. Frye took to the closest cot to the door on the left side and Yelv took the one that was closest to the door on the right. Doug suppressed a sigh at the subtle competitiveness still present and took one that was on the right. 

 

Frye wasn’t sure how long he had slept but when he looked down at his comm device and still didn’t see any kind of message from Cross and he started to worry a little. He rubbed the bottom part of his scar with his right pointer and middle fingers, feeling the small ridge. When he was nervous he noticed he would rub the injury finding a kind of catharsis in the act of touching it. He got up from the cot and exited the tent and harshly flinched at the bright light that assaulted him.

Once his vision cleared he was hit with cold realization. Cross had never contacted them and it was…. Frye pulled out his comm device and saw the time read 8:54. She was well past overdue of being back and since she wasn’t in the tent that meant she was still out where she had been doing the recon… or worse.

Frye busted back into the tent, “Cross isn’t back yet and it’s 9am. We need to go NOW.”

Yelv and Doug were slow to wake up.

“What’s the matter?”

“CROSS ISN’T BACK YET! GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR!”

Yelv blinked a few times before understanding. He quickly got to his feet and the two of them exited the tent at a breakneck speed.

“HOLD ON A ‘SEC YOU TWO!”

Doug’s gruff shout made Frye and Yelv stop and turn around. The third man jogged up to them.

“What the hell do you two think you’re doing going and running off unprepared? I know all of us have been to Oblivia more than a few times now but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t prepare for what’s to come.”

“But we don’t have that kind of luxury! My pard could be dead by now!”

“As much as I hate to admit it Doug, Yelv’s right. We need to go and get her out right now.”

“Alright then you two, riddle me this. If we three go RIGHT NOW and rush the Ganglion forces without so much as checking and tuning our guns or using any of the armor Cross got us, what do you think will happen?”

Yelv and Frye were silent. Their eyes were burning with determination but Doug could see the frowns tugging at the edges of their mouths.

“Exactly. Now, let’s take a couple breaths and make sure all of our stuff is in order and then we may stand a better chance. I’m just as worried as you guys are but this kind of mission requires a level of finesse, believe me.”

Yelv cracked his knuckles, “The moment were done I take point and we go storm them. I’m- I’m not going to lose her like I did my original partner…”

Frye felt a streak of empathy when he heard the genuine concern in Yelv's voice.

 

The small cell had taken another half hour to get all of their gear optimized and ready for any scuffle. Doug had tried to call her device 3 different times while they were preparing and shipping out to the other side of the gorge and as he expected he never received an answer. He wished he had the tech savviness Lin possessed so he could triangulate her location. Instead he only had the restlessness of Yelv and Frye who are almost 10 paces in front of him and dead silent, their heads swiveling back and forth looking for any signs of Cross being there.

They had found what looked like her boot tracks so they assumed they were on the right path but they hadn’t found any other signs since then. Frye had brought up the idea of a storm covering the rest of her tracks but Yelv had been quick to shoot him down exclaiming how they shouldn’t have found the first set if a storm had blown through. Doug thought they were both going to pop their lids but nothing came of it.

“Do you think the Ganglion took her? Don’t you think they would have called us and started taunting us at this point? I mean my pard is NOTORIOUS with them so I would think they would call bragging about it…”

Yelv had asked his thought to no one in particular. Doug only answered with a shrug of his shoulders and a “no telling”. Frye took a little longer to think about it before giving an answer.

“At this point they are our greatest threat and our most likely candidate… I wish I could tell you for certain kid but with the wild there’s just no such thing as a straightforward answer…”

Yelv decided to let the “kid” comment slide for the moment and instead channeled his annoyance into the rock he kicked. The crunching noise that sounded when he kicked it made Yelv quickly regret his action and go running after whatever he just kicked.

He knelt down and picked up… a comm device.

Frye and Doug watched Yelv’s face melt in devastation. He clutched the comm device to his chest and slammed one of his fists against the sandy earth.

“GOD DAMNIT!”

Doug walked to Yelv’s front and offered the man a hand up.

“Come on Yelv, we can’t give up NOW. There’s a good chance she’s st-“

“FUCK OFF! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Yelv had gotten back to his feet without Doug’s help and had pushed the man aside with the hand that had been holding the device, heading blindly in the direction he happened to be facing. Frye had been watch from afar and a pang of familiarity struck him. He walked over to where Doug was now standing and watching Yelv go.

“I’ll help him calm down… Check out the comm device and figure out if it really is Cross’s.”

“But didn’t Yelv just take it with him? I saw him holding it when I was offering him a hand up…”

“He’s to flustered to notice small things like dropping the comm device. Right now he’s searching for an outlet.”

“Alright…”

Doug knelt down and picked up the comm device and brushed the dust off the screen. At the touch the screen lit up. Cross’s photo popped up and an indicator noting Doug’s 3 missed calls showed right below it. Doug was going to announce the news to Frye but the other man was already at Yelv’s side.

Yelv’s ridged shoulders and tight arms led Frye’s eyes down to his fisted hands and white knuckles.

“Go away. Didn’t you hear me before!?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Then what the HELL are you doing here?”

“Making sure you don’t lose sight of what we’re supposed to be doing.”

“What does THAT mean?”

“It means that right now you need to take a breath and get your head out of your ass and focus.”

Yelv grit his teeth and did a very quick 180 turn to face Frye.

“How fucking heartless ARE YOU? Cross is GONE! GONE! And you think you can just sit here and tell me to FORGET THAT?”

“I’m not telling you to forget that. I’m telling you that right now your head is so clouded with emotion that you’re completely forgetting what we all hiked out here for!”

“Excuse me!? My teammate just damn died and you’re expecting me to just continue on with the mission like nothing happened? Like hell!”

“Look Yelv, right now we have no definitive proof if Cross is dead or not. For now, it’s smarter of us to act on the idea she is and get on with the mission so we can track her down.”

Yelv’s lips were a tight line and his hands were still tight fists. Frye looked him straight in the eye.

“I’ll give you a few minutes to regain you’re composure but we don’t have a lot of time to spare to sit and mope and shit.”

Yelv’s punch was very fast, one of the fastest Frye had ever witnessed and if he had been hungover it would have made contact.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave RIGHT NOW.”

Frye scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest like he did when they had first met.

“You wouldn’t be able to hit me if I kept my hands behind my back.”

Yelv threw another punch switching to his other hand this time to try and throw Frye off guard. The tactic didn’t work and Frye took a single step back and watched Yelv’s momentum work against him and turn him another 90 degrees.

“What? That’s it?”

“SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!”

Yelv started to string his punches together and threw most of his BLADE training to the wind. With every advance Frye was able to dodge it without removing his hands from behind his back. After a while, he noticed the weariness in Yelv’s punches which indicated he was starting to draw from the last of his energy. Frye needed him to hang on to that; that was the purest form of energy and it was what he and Doug needed if they wanted to succeed in finding Cross.

Yelv threw a half-hearted punch and Frye easily caught it in his hand.

“Do you feel better now?”

Doug had asked the question. He had quietly approached them and hadn’t breathed a word up to that point.

Yelv’s breathing was heavy and his head was limply hanging down.

“He should be ok for now Doug… Did you find anything out from the comm device?”

“This is Cross’s. Interestingly, I found a message in her draft box addressed to Yelv. It was saved at 3:36 this morning…”

Yelv slightly perked up at the sound of his name. “What’d it say?”

“It wasn’t finished but if I had to hazard a guess it was probably her reporting that she wasn’t going to be back by four like she had originally planned…”

Frye released Yelv’s fist and looked at Doug with an interested look. “And how did you draw that conclusion?”

“She said that she was going to be back at camp by 4… She has no reason to send me a message at 3 in the morning telling me that she is coming back to camp. She would have just come straight back and we would have seen her in the morning. Obviously, whatever it was that made her change her mind must have been important enough to warrant letting down her guard and sending me a message…”

The two both looked to Yelv who had regained a sliver of his composure. His face was a blank and his posture was slack. “Anything else?”

Doug shook his head. “No voice recordings… No out-going or incoming calls outside of my mine this morning… Just that one message to you Yelv…”

“Damn it pard… You should have just taken care of business and came back…”

“Don’t beat yourself up Yelv. In fact, turn that energy against the Ganglion that we’re going to go up against…”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Frye pointed off towards the gorge with a finger gun. Yelv followed his pointer finger and saw the approaching 3 man squad of Ganglion. The three men quickly ducked behind a small sand dune.

Frye looked at Yelv and Doug, “I have a plan. The two of you will go for the two solders on the left and right. A noiseless approach from behind and-“ Frye ran a finger across his throat.

“You gonna handle that big guy in the middle?”

“Not exactly Doug… He’s going to be out key to finding Cross.”

“Let me.”

Yelv had been silent for a while. When Frye looked over at him again he saw a face of serious determination.

“Ok.”

Doug was gearing up to raise an objection but Frye shook his head. “Let the kid have his moment. He’s obviously invested and serious about this.”

Doug pursed his lips a few times before letting out a sigh. “Alright Frye, I trust you…”

In the passing minutes a cloud cover had settled over the vicinity. Bolts of lightning intermittently flashed and Doug could clearly feel the charge in the air. As another bolt lit up the sky the small clump of Ganglion walked past their sand dune oblivious to their presence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again if there's spelling errors sorry;;

Frye made a silent motion with his pointer and middle fingers which was their signal to take them out. Yelv hung back a bit and let Doug and Frye take out their target’s first. When only the one Ganglion remained Yelv swiftly closed the gap between them with his glowing sword against its neck before it could utter a comment about its fallen teammates.

“Where’s Cross you ungrateful piece of garbage?”

The murnuck solider let out a deep laugh that was cut short by Yelv digging his sword into its throat.

“If I were you, I would get to talking and NOT laughing!”

“Stupid human scum… We don’t have girl…”

“OH YEAH!? AND HOW DO I KNOW YOU’RE NOT LYING TO ME RIGHT NOW?”

“Because I personally watched welp get carried off by large monster.”

“WHERE!?” Yelv’s hands were noticeably shaky and Doug could hear his plate armor rattling because of it. The murnuck picked up on it as well and wrapped one of his beefy hands around most of Yelv’s right lower forearm causing him to relinquish dominance over the xeno. The murnuck was able to turn them both around so that they were facing Doug and Frye. He drew his small pistol with his left hand and had it pointed in Doug and Frye’s direction.

“Why should I say?”

Doug made a motion to take a step forward. Simultaneously the xeno tightened his grip around Yelv’s arm causing the man to squirm and aiming the gun at Doug’s forehead area.

Frye side-eyed Doug, “Don’t make any moves Doug. He’s got control over us right now… We can’t afford to lose anyone….”

“What the hell am I SUPPOSED TO DO THEN?!”

“Just… stay calm.”

The alien began to laugh again. “You have wise friend.”

Yelv grit his teeth. He could take this guy on without a problem if his arm was free but his damn emotions got the better of him again and now he’s in a situation that’s putting everyone at risk.

“Let’s make deal humans. I let go of boys arm in exchange for my life.”

“Deal.” The immediate response from Frye was free of hesitation. In a smooth motion the murnuck elbowed Yelv in the ribs with his left elbow making him go limp before taking him down to the ground with his right arm causing Yelv to lose his grip on his saber. The alien released his grip on the man’s arm but kept his gun pointed at the other two as he walked 5 paces backwards before jogging back in the direction of his base.

Doug was quick to Yelv’s side while Frye watched the giant xeno take off. He looked up to the sky and saw that the electromagnetic storm was now over their heads. With Yelv being injured and the weather being against them their chances of success were becoming slimmer by the minute.

Frye put the thought on the back burner and went over to the other two men. Doug had managed to get Yelv back on his feet but it seemed like he was having trouble catching his breath.

“Doug, we need to pull out.”

“I agree. We barely stand a chance, especially with how crappy this weather got all of a sudden… but legging it back to the ingress basecamp is too far… We need one closer by…”

“N-No…W-we gotta find….. pard….. She’s still… out there somewhere….”

Doug shook his head, “Yelv you know damn well that you’re not in any condition to fight right now.”

“But Doug…. What if-“

“No ‘buts’ Yelv. Just… work with us…”

Yelv seemed like he was ready to raise an objection but when he saw the serious expression on Doug’s face he stayed hushed.

“You two go on ahead… I’m going to stay back and have a look around.”

Doug let out a groan, “How about you don’t. How about **I** stay behind and you and Yelv go to the nearest camp? Or…. Maybe we ALL go back to camp!”

“Doug we’re burning daylight. We don’t have time to argue over the details. If you want to stay back and recon, which was what we were supposed to be doing and then moving on to our next mission, then you go ahead.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t pick up on my sarcasm there…” Doug didn’t even try to put up an argument at this point. He just wanted to get this mission over with so he and Cross were even steven again. He handed Yelv off to Frye who tucked his arm around the back of the man.

“My damn leg isn’t busted! I can walk ya know!”

“Yeah yeah, shut your mouth. I try and do something nice and you just complain! Unbelievable!” A light hearted tone had entered Frye’s voice and it reminded Yelv of his partners, past and present and he smiled a little.

“Thanks man...”

Doug looked at the two of them. “I figure that our escapee will be calling his cronies out here any time now so you two need to get going ASAP.”

“Good luck Doug…”

 

The two blond soldiers had managed to find the Aaroy Plains BC without too much issue. It didn’t take them as long as Frye was expecting but with Yelv’s slight breathing irregularity still present when they arrived he didn’t complain. There was only one BLADE out and about when Frye and Yelv entered the small camp. Unlike the ingress basecamp this one had a skell ready and waiting.

A female BLADE approached the two of them with a pleasant smile on her face. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”

“This guy over here needs some medical attention and I may need that skell depending on Doug’s situation…”

The BLADE raised an eyebrow, “Tough job?”

Yelv let out a weak laugh but clutched his ribs right after, “You don’t know the half of it…”

“Well thankfully we have a half-competent medic on staff so they should be able to get you a temporary patch until you get back to NLA. He’s in that tent to the left.”

Yelv nodded and went inside.

Frye pulled out his comm device, checking for anything from Doug. It had been about half an hour since they had separated and Frye figured if he wasn’t cresting the horizon in a few more minutes that he really would need that skell.

“Hey, come take a seat. You look stressed.”

The same female BLADE had pulled out a folding chair for Frye across the table from her. He looked back at the horizon one more time and did a quick scan but didn’t see any immediate change. He took up the seat and right away he began to pick at his already short fingernails.

“So is it just you and him out here?”

“Huh?”

The BLADE let out a small sigh, “I said, is it just you and that other boy together on a mission or did you have other teammates with you?”

“Oh! Oh I uh… We started off with 4 members but our leader went missing somewhere after 4 am this morning and the other one of us stayed behind… I’m not really sure if it was so that we could get Yelv out of there or if it was he genuinely thought he could get more recon information...”

“Hmmm… sounds like an unfortunate string of events…” The woman laid her hands down on the table and Frye mimicked the motion but was surprised when 2 rings of metal came over his wrists.

“W-What the hell is this!?”

The female BLADE had a crooked smile on her face. “You humans are just so easy to fool sometimes…” A light enveloped her for a moment before fading away and revealing what she really was.

“Damn Milsaadi witch!” Frye raised his voice hoping deep down that Yelv was alright in the tent and that the medic wasn’t another Milsaadi. He didn’t hear any scuffle or shouting so either Yelv had been quickly taken down the moment he entered the tent or he was being tended to and was going to come busting out at any moment.

The tent flaps pulled back and a strained looking Yelv came out. He was clutching his ribs with his left hand and holding his saber with his right hand.

“You ok Frye?”

“I’m good man. How are you fairing? You look like a pile of shit.”

Yelv let out a weak and breathy laugh, “I feel like shit…”

“Careful with this one… She’s damn crafty.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

All three of them furrowed their brows at the husky new voice.

“Come on Frye, you should know that the standard BLADE base has at least 3 people outside at all times of the day.”

Yelv’s eyes widened and turned his head in the direction the voice was coming from.

A battered and bloodied Cross was standing behind the Milsaadi, her assault rifle digging into their back.

“Now then, let him go before I spill your guts all over this table.”

The Milsaadi smiled, “No can do. Once the braces are connected it’s impossible to get out of them without sacrificing your hands.”

Cross aimed the rifle straight up and fired off 3 shots before jamming it harder into the Milsaadi’s back.

“If you’re planning on playing games with me then prepare to be shown NO mercy. Now tell me how to get the braces separate.”

“You can’t.”

Cross shook her head and aimed the rifle at the enemies head and pulled the trigger. 3 shots fired off and the Milsaadi crumpled to the ground.

“You just can’t find good help these days… I swear…”

Cross let out a breath and Yelv watched as she shrunk by a fair amount. Her shoulders sagged and she hunched over, holding herself in a similar manner that he was.

“Glad to have you back in one piece Cross…”

“Yeah… I’m glad I’m back in once piece too… For a while there I didn’t think I would…”

“Don’t say things like that pard! You’ll jinx it for all of us!”

Cross looked around, “Speaking of ‘all of us’ where is Doug? He didn’t take a page out of Lao’s book and abandon you guys did he?”

They both shook their heads and looked at the other. Yelv decided to take up the role of messenger boy.

“Doug stayed behind… We ran into a bit of a Ganglion problem earlier and he said we should go on without him and that he’ll catch up later… But we haven’t heard anything since but none of us are in any shape to go back out there and find him so we were just going to wait it out here until he came back or something but since this turned out to be a trap we don’t really know what to do now…”

Cross shook her head, “Man… I leave you boys unattended for a couple hours and this is what comes of it.” She had an obvious smile on her face as she spoke but Frye couldn’t help feeling a stab of guilt deep in his gut.

“Sorry pard…”

“Why are you apologizing Yelv? This was a very tough scenario for all of us and as of right now we’re doing so much better then some of the cells I’ve encountered in the past… Moving past that however, I know how we can get Frye free from his table.”

“Boy am I glad to hear that! I think my hand’s are starting to turn a shade of blue!”

“Hah, yeah right Frye. Your hands only start to turn colors when you’re going to hard at the diner!”

Cross walked over to where Frye was laughing. Yelv stayed where he was and watched them from a distance. He couldn’t flush out the blend of feelings he was harboring. There was guilt, relief, fatigue and a small sprinkle of… jealousy? Yelv shook his head a few times but had to stop as a flash of dizziness overtook his person. He steadied himself before he fell to the ground.

“Hey Yelv, could you come here for a moment? I could use your help.”

“Sure thing pard, what’cha need?”

“Well my thoughts are this… If we can cut away the main part of the table Frye is connected to and then separate the pieces he can at least gain back his mobility which is what we need right now. I have my dual swords so you take one side and I’ll take the other. Get a general oval outline around his hands and I’ll go back in and get the smaller stuff.”

“What, don’t trust me to not slit this bastards wrists?”

“I mean… I figured I had the steadier hands between the two of us right now but now that you’ve brought up that line of thinking I think it may be better if you just go and check on the skell instead…”

A deep blush came over Yelv’s face and Frye was not so subtly holding back a howl of laughter.

“Y-Yeah… I’ll go and take a look at the skell for ya…”

 

It took a while but Cross had managed to get Frye out of his predicament. He still had the metal braces and small pieces of the table that Cross couldn’t remove but he was mobile now. Doug still hadn’t made an appearance the whole time and Yelv was honestly getting worried about him. The light type skell that he presumed was the Milsaadi’s was in fine driving condition but only had around half a tank of gas left. It could get them to where they needed to be no problem but if they wanted to fight with it they would need to be careful with what they used. Yelv honestly hoped that they would just happen to find Doug and not engage in any more combat but it wasn’t shaping up to be that way after everything that had happened to them.

“So,” Cross looked to Yelv and Frye, “Which one of you wants to pilot that skell?”

“I think Yelv should. He’s not in the best shape and with my wrists kind of locked it would be difficult to competently pilot in a high stress environment.”

Cross nodded and looked over at Yelv who had stolen a confused glance at Frye.

“I-I mean I guess I could… But have I really earned it? Pard, you’re in just as bad of shape as me…”

Cross snorted and Frye was smirking.

“I think you’ve more than earned it kiddo.”

Yelv couldn’t tell if that was a jab at his injury or if it was genuine but he decided to just go ahead and take the offer. He walked over to skell and watched as the cockpit opened. He entered and the robot booted up and was on its feet in no time.

“Alright Yelv! Lead the charge!”

The skell began walking in the direction that Cross pointed and three set out.

 

“I got him!”

The three had been combing the Aaroy plains for a while and hadn’t seen hide nor hair of either the Ganglion or Doug. Yelv had made the callout which made Frye and Cross return to his side in a flash.

Doug was lying face down in the dirt with his comm device a couple of feet out of his reach. Cross knelt down and put two fingers to the man’s neck.

“I’m getting a pulse…”

“Good to hear. Yelv, can you pick Doug up with the skell?”

The large mech went down onto its needs and slowly brought its hands over to Doug. Cross held her hand up in a stopping motion and the mech paused. She and Frye turned Doug over onto his back and Cross gave a wave and Yelv continued with picked him up. He slowly wrapped the large mechanical fingers around Doug’s body and then turned it’s hand so it was palm up.

Cross gave a thumbs up and knelt down to pick up Doug’s comm device.

“So what now pard? Are we going back to NLA?”

“I think that’s the best plan for the moment. All of us are tired and beat to hell. We can do the minor collection quests on the way back and just pick up what we see but there’s no need to try and strain ourselves past that…”

Yelv didn’t try to hide his disappointment at the thought of going back with only one mission complete but he knew deep down that Cross was perfectly right. He let out a sigh which was picked up by the mic.

Frye looked up to the cockpit window, “Don’t get to down about it. Next time! For right now it’s time to go home, shower and get shit faced.”

Yelv and the mech nodded and the small team made the trek back to NLA with heavy hearts and very empty stomachs.

 

After they got Doug to the mim maintenance center Yelv took the newly acquired skell to the hangar so all the engineers could take a look at it and see if it was ok for their use. As he left his comm device beeped.

_Drinks at the diner. On Frye. Come along_

It was from Cross. Yelv was so tired and he still hadn’t had a chance to get his ribs checked out but he figured there wasn’t anything wrong with going and getting a couple drinks before going home. He wasn’t one to drink normally but…

When Yelv entered the diner he could hardly hear the small bell jingle over the sound of loud voices, a blaring juke box and the clinking of drinks. He spotted Cross, Frye and another blond fellow in a booth to the left of the bar. An empty pitched was already at the edge of the table and a second one looked half empty.

Yelv walked over and Cross got up to greet him.

“Glad you came along for a little Yelv. Oh! This is Phog, Frye’s little brother. Phog, this is Yelv. He was the third member of our little disaster squad.”

The blond gave a sheepish grin before casting his eyes down on the mug in front of him. Frye had a flush on his face and the widest smile Yelv had seen since the two had started the mission. Yelv noticed that the metal braces weren't on Frye's wrist anymore and only red lines showed any history of them being there.

“AY! YA MADE IT KIDDO! I’M GLAD! Hoy! Dolly! Could I get another glass over here!?”

A women behind the counter looked over at Frye at the sound of her name. She nodded and a moment later she was out from behind the counter setting down a full mug, another full pitcher and removed the empty pitcher.

Cross took an inside seat and Yelv set down next to her.

Frye held up his mug, “To a disastrous mission and drinking it all down the drain!”

Cross answered the toast with her own glass and even Phog raised his smaller drink. Yelv smiled and raised his glass and they all clinked them together.

Cross took a large gulp and wiped the foam away from her upper lip. “It’s a shame that Doug couldn’t make it… He would probably be enjoying himself right about now…”

“Yeah, I know. Why DIDN’T you invite me!?”

At the sound of Doug’s husky voice Cross and Yelv turned around to look over the back of the booth. Doug approached them as if he hadn’t just been found lying out in the middle of the desert.

“Doc said there wasn’t anything super seriously wrong with me other than being dehydrated and a little banged and bruised from our escapades.”

Dolly had noticed the new man coming over to Frye’s table and was quick to bring out another mug full of beer and setting it down at the head of the table.

Frye side eyed her as she walked off and then looked over at Doug who had pulled up a chair to the table. He sat down with a heavy sigh and took a deep drink, killing almost half the glass in one go.

“Damn Doug! You a troubled soul all of a sudden?”

Frye’s flush had gotten a shade deeper and his glass was now empty.

The other man let out a hardy laugh, “Ha, not really. It’s just… I haven’t had this much trouble with a mission since I became a Harrier…”

Phog looked over to Doug, “Well, don’t feel too bad about it…… I know I’ve had my fair share of awful mission outcomes…..”

“Oh no, believe me. I have zero bad feelings. It just takes its toll on your mind and body sometimes… But that’s what money and booze can help with!”

“Amen to that brother!”

Frye and Doug clinked glasses and each took a swig.

Yelv had been staring at his glass for a little and hadn’t said much. Phog had picked up on this and met his gaze from across the table.

“You know, if you don’t want to drink it, then just hand it to one of them and they will happily drink it for you…”

Yelv furrowed his brow, “No… it’s not- I just-“

Phog smiled, “Don’t worry. I’m not one to drink a lot either.”

Yelv’s gaze fell down to the amber liquid in the glass and his stomach churned in response. He slid the glass over to Cross who had finished her own. She took the handle without making any fuss or comment about it.

“So Cross, how’d’ja manage to track me and Yelv back to that camp anyway? I thought you were doing recon over at that gorge camp?”

Cross set her mug down, “Well you see where I was camped out was in the same territory as this giant monster that commonly roams about the area. I had completely forgotten about him but he was very unhappy with me presence. Long story short I managed to get away from the dumb thing on foot but I got lost after a sandstorm got me turned around… I guess I passed out at some point cause there’s a gap of time that I don’t clearly remember. When I woke up I heard Frye’s voice and I saw that Milsaadi transform and then badda-bing badda-boom I had my rifle in her back.” She turned her gaze to Doug. “So what happened to YOU? Did you get overwhelmed by 50 ganglion and they just happened to be in mercy mode?”

Doug shook his head. “Nah… 2 murnuck’s and a pugilite came back to where I had split off from the blonds and they weren’t super tough. Took them out no problem but as the pugilith had gone down the long nose piece had smacked me on the back of the head and I passed out.”

Frye creased his brows together. “Then why didn’t we see any corpses or scrap when we found you?”

Doug shrugged as he took another gulp from his drink. “Guess the people from their camp came and collected between the time I passed out and they got their guys. Probably figured that if I could singlehandedly take on 3 they it wouldn’t be wise of them to bring this back to camp!”

Doug started flexing his arms and Cross lost all composure laughing loudly with everyone joining in shortly after.

It was almost 3 in the morning before the 5 of them finally left the diner. Phog hadn’t stopped yawning since the clock had struck 1 but he never spoke up about leaving until he noticed that Frye was starting to lose his self-restraint, trying to take Doug and Cross’s glasses from them without asking.

They all stumbled out onto the pavement and with a shock of night air in his face Doug immediately hunched over and lost the majority of what he had drank earlier. Cross seemed like she was going to go down the same road eventually but for the moment she seemed stable. Phog had stayed back inside to chat with Dolly and sort out Frye’s endless tab. Yelv had wandered down the sidewalk a bit and paused when he was at the halfway point of the bridge. He looked up at the moons for a moment before turning his face to see who was coming towards him.

Frye had his hands in his pockets and his eyes was slightly lidded.

“Hey… You doin’ ok?”

“As good as a sober person can be…”

Frye started laughing as he took a spot next to Yelv. A quiet settled between them. There had been something on Yelv’s mind since they had gotten back but he hadn’t had a chance to ask Frye about it.

_Now’s as good a time as ever…_

“What you said to me back at Aaroy plains when he found pard’s comm device… Where did they all come from? Were you being serious?”

Frye kept his gaze up to the sky as he drew in a breath. “Phog and I lost our dad during all the transitioning from Earth onto the White Whale. He chose to stay behind on Earth so that someone else could get a spot on the Whale. There was a long stretch of time where I let my emotions get in the way of the truth… But now me and Phog are brothers again and I wouldn’t want it any other way…”

Yelv looked over at Frye whose gaze was still off in the distance.

“Watching you interact with Cross and watching how you dealt with her loss… You reminded me so much of myself that I just couldn’t stand there and watch you crash and burn. You have a lot of amazing potential Yelv it’s just a matter of making sure that the energy is channeled right. Sometimes the only way is to get your ass kicked before you listen to reason…”

“Thanks Frye. I appreciate it… I don’t really have any family of my own. I considered my partner my family but, well, they’re not here right now.”

Frye didn’t offer a response or any kind of sympathy which Yelv appreciated after how much he received from all the others he told.

“Good luck finding ‘em.”

Frye pushed off the edge of the bridge with the underpart of his arms and began to walk off back towards the diner. Yelv watched his back recede and then looked back up towards the sky.

“Just hold on a little longer pard. I’ll get your ass sooner than you think….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does this fic suffer from "to much bad shit happening"? idk but i feel like there's an ok blend...


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